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Point of View (Chimera Team Alpha)
Point of View '''is the second episode of the first season of the action/comedy Halo machinima series Chimera Team Alpha'''. It was written and directed by x Master Rob x and was featured on the 343icommunity Youtube Channel. Cast *Admiral Jim Tyrell - Abnormacus *Crackshot - Master Jackosan *Niblick - Master Jackosan *Councilman Randle - Chuck Ripsteak Plot Admiral Tyrell welcomes a visitor to Spife Base: Councilman Randle of the UNSC Security Council. Tyrell explains that after the success of Team Alpha in the previous episode, he wants to bring back Project: Chimera full-time but needs the Council's approval. Tyrell and Randle explain what Project: Chimera is: an experimental program that partners Spartans with Elites. Randle tells Tyrell that the project cannot be reapproved until the Council alleviates its concerns about the effectiveness and stability of the Chimera Teams. He cites as a point of concern the Mzuzu Incident, an event which took place several months previously, during the Human-Covenant War. In that instance, Team Alpha was assigned to protect a military base in Mzuzu, Africa against the Friends of the Covenant, a human terrorist group of apocalyptic Covenant sympathizers. According to Randle, Team Alpha failed to protect the base, and as a result, many were injured or killed in a terrorist attack. Randle states that he needs to debrief Team Alpha on the Mzuzu Incident in order to assess the effectiveness and stability of the Chimera Teams, and Tyrell reluctantly agrees and asserts that Team Alpha is not unstable. At that moment, Tyrell and Randle walk in on the members of Team Alpha (Niblick and Crackshot) engaging in a scuffle about how Crackshot converted their quarters into a ball pit. Afterwards, Randle begins debriefing Team Alpha, and Niblick gives his account of the Mzuzu Incident: convinced that the Friends of the Covenant were all talk and weren't going to attack the Mzuzu base, Niblick proceeded to meditate and enjoy the African environment, ignoring Crackshot's ramblings. While this almost resulted in them overlooking an attacking Covenant Banshee squadron, Team Alpha soon rectified their mistake and destroyed the Banshees. According to Niblick, while the team was distracted defending against the Banshees, the terrorists detonated their bomb. There was nothing the team could have done. Curious on Crackshot's take on the situation, Randle asks Crackshot what he subjectively experienced that day. Crackshot then begins to recount his experience, which turns out to be a surreal dance number that includes soccerballs, spinning tanks, and giant robots. Speechless at Crackshot's insanity and slim grip on reality, Randle decides to go with Niblick's account and concludes that Project: Chimera should be approved but still has some kinks to work out. After he leaves, Tyrell and Team Alpha express relief that Randle didn't discover the true story of what happened in Mzuzu that day. After Tyrell berates Team Alpha on their lack of teamwork, Niblick and Crackshot flash back to what happened: as Niblick and Crackshot were bickering, Niblick punched Crackshot, causing him to accidentally fire his sniper rifle, the stray bullet causing a freak chain reaction of boxes, vehicles, and man cannons that effectively killed or injured everyone in the area. They were the real cause of the Mzuzu Incident. Reception Despite some commentors expressing concern about the slow and dry first scene, Point of View was generally well-received. Much praise was directed at Crackshot's flashback, which involved a surreal dance number and a giant robotic Crackshot replica, Mecha-Crackshot. The general consensus is that while this episode is more smartly-written than the first episode, it's not as dynamic or action-packed, and that the funniest parts are sandwiched between periods of dryness. Nevertheless, Point of View is seen as an improvement over the first episode, especially with regards to the cinematography, as the first episode's camerwork was said to be too static. Trivia *The name of the episode is a play on words, referencing both the debriefing (in which Randle asks for Niblick and Crackshot's points of view on the Mzuzu Incident) and the manner in which Team Alpha guarded Mzuzu Base from the cliff from which Crackshot observed the base with his sniper rifle and Niblick enjoyed the African vistas (making the cliff literally a point of view). *During the Crackshot dance number, as well as the credits, there are slight technical hiccups in the video, originating from Youtube itself. *The episode currently occurs twice on the 343icommunity Channel. The first instance is a partial episode, cut off due to a Youtube glitch, while the full 12:37-length episode is also on the channel. *Ironically, the Forge World canyon is used to depict Mzuzu, Africa, despite the fact that Forge World itself is a major location in the Chimera Team Alpha series. *Despite being depicted in multiple shots, the Rube Goldberg-esque setup of the Mzuzu canyon in which Crackshot's one stray bullet destroys everything actually does work. *Mecha-Crackshot's pistol is a forge structure with a Warthog-Gauss inside, giving the illusion of the gun firing, allowing Mecha-Crackshot to destroy the attacking Banshees. External Links *343icommunity Channel, Machinima Playlist Video Category:Chimera Team Alpha Episodes